Fewer new ransomware families could mean a chance to disrupt cybercrime activity
Although ransomware remained the most common threat last year the number of new ransomware families and unique variants discovered in 2021 decreased significantly compared to previous years.
Researchers from WithSecure suggest that this could highlight a potential opportunity to disrupt the cybercrime ecosystem that's exacerbated the problem in recent years.
The rise of double extortion ransomware
We've become familiar with the widespread use of ransomware, but researchers at Rapid7 have been examining the rise of a newer phenomenon, 'double extortion'.
Pioneered by the Maze ransomware group, double extortion involves cybercriminals collecting files before encrypting them. Then if the target organization refuses to pay they threaten to release sensitive information.
Over half of organizations suffer cyberattacks in the cloud
A new report reveals that 53 percent of organizations have experienced a cyberattack on their cloud infrastructure within the last 12 months.
The 2022 Cloud Security Report from Netwrix shows that was the most common type of attack, experienced by 73 percent of respondents.
Almost half of IT security leaders believe they won't be breached
A new study shows 47 percent of security leaders do not believe they will be breached despite the increasing sophistication and frequency of attacks.
The survey of 1,000 IT and security professionals across eight countries, conducted by The Enterprise Strategy Group for Illumio finds in the past two years alone 76 percent have been attacked by ransomware and 66 percent have experienced at least one software supply chain attack.
New study reveals serious disconnect in executive planning for cyberattacks
A new study reveals a major disconnect in the way senior management teams collaborate and determine the risks and impact on their operations when hit by a cyberattack.
The research carried out by Sapio Research for Deep Instinct shows only 12 percent of chief financial officers are actively involved in the process, even though 56 percent say their organization has paid a ransom to recover data.
Ransomware vulnerabilities increase as Russia-linked activity surges
The first quarter of 2022 has seen a 7.6 percent increase in the number of vulnerabilities tied to ransomware, with 22 new ones discovered.
The latest Ransomware Index from Ivanti, conducted with Cyber Security Works, shows that of those 22, 19 are connected to Conti -- a prolific ransomware group that pledged support for the Russian government following the invasion of Ukraine.
Five years on from WannaCry -- what have we learned?
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the notorious WannaCry ransomware attack which hit a number of large organizations around the world and was many people's first encounter with ransomware.
Five years on then, what have we learned from the attack and what long-term effect has it had on the industry?
Countering the risk of ransomware with operational continuity
In recent years, organizations all over the world have been hit by increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks. For some, the impact is so severe that normal business operations experience major disruption with a knock-on effect on customers and revenue. For others, the impact can last weeks or even months as they seek to restore IT services and access to vital data.
Since the start of last year, for example, organizations across a huge range of sectors -- from oil and gas to food -- have seen their services impacted by ransomware. KP Snacks suffered an incident that brought its supply chain to a halt, with the company unable to process orders and dispatch products. And most recently of all, The Works, a retailer with over 500 stores across the UK, was forced to close some outlets after an employee reportedly fell victim to a phishing email that introduced ransomware to their infrastructure.
The benefits of implementing a multi-layered ransomware defense strategy
Ransomware is becoming a risk that UK organizations cannot afford to take, with rising financial and operational costs. A staggering 75 percent of UK organizations were targeted by ransomware in 2021, and where these attacks were successful, most (82 percent) paid the ransom. This makes the UK the most likely country in the world to make ransom payments. As cybercriminal strategies evolve to bypass traditional network-based defenses, a multi-layered ransomware defense strategy is vital for organizations to protect their mission-critical data.
First, it’s important for us to understand the typical defense strategies that attackers have adapted to, in order to appreciate the rationale for the boost in cyber protection. And, we need to understand the rising costs of these incidents, to prove the business value of initiatives that are aimed at prioritizing prevention and detection of cyber-attacks before they occur. It’s not just a quick fix -- failure to implement these solutions can affect your profitability, reputation and even put your company out of business.
Agriculture under threat as ransomware attacks go against the grain
The FBI has warned food and agriculture companies to be prepared for ransomware operatives to attack agricultural entities during planting and harvest seasons.
The FBI warning notes previous ransomware attacks during these seasons against six grain cooperatives during the fall 2021 harvest and two attacks in early 2022 that could impact the planting season by disrupting the supply of seeds and fertilizer.
Kaspersky releases free decryptor for Yanluowang ransomware
While the Russian security firm has fallen out of favor in recent months, Kaspersky has announced that it has managed to crack the Yanluowang ransomware.
Yanluowang was discovered by Symantec last year, and now Kaspersky has identified a vulnerability in the encryption algorithm it uses. This has enabled the company to develop a free decryption tool which can be used by ransomware victims to get their data back without having to pay a cent.
Critical steps to ransomware protection in the cloud
The ransomware threat is very real with attacks growing in size and frequency, in part, because of the acceleration of digital transformation initiatives and the move to embrace digital services as well as the rapid implementation of hybrid ways of working.
As new digital systems required multiple access points for customers, partners, and employees, this has created a vastly expanded attack surface. This has hastened the rise in ransomware attacks, as attackers quickly took advantage of the increased number of possible attack vectors.
Good backups are critical to recovering from ransomware
A new report from Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), sponsored by Keepit, shows that granular and air-gapped backup are critical to data recovery when businesses are hit by ransomware.
Of more than 600 respondents to the survey, 79 percent have experienced a ransomware attack within the last year, with 17 percent experiencing attacks weekly and 13 percent daily.
Lessons learned from 633 destructive ransomware events
The threat landscape continues to see rapid evolution, especially as the digital world grows increasingly connected and more organizations outsource business services. Adversaries are getting smarter, and their techniques are getting more advanced by the day. This has put a spotlight on the security of our global supply chain and how unstable and unprotected it is.
In fact, software supply chain attacks have tripled in 2021. The potential ripple effects of risks and disruptions within an organization’s supply chain that could ultimately impact their business are immense. Research shows that a data breach affecting multiple parties causes 26X the financial damage of the worst single-party breach.
Pay up or play different? Five tips for beating ransomware with backups
When it comes to ransomware, sometimes the cost of downtime can exceed the cost of paying up. Companies with frozen data and systems face loss of revenue, productivity, customer departures, damaged reputations, never mind the cost of the ransom itself. Take an organization like Colonial Pipeline, which should have had healthy backups in place to quickly recover from their attack and most likely did. However, they opted to shell out $4.4 million in ransom because they didn’t know how long it would take to get up and running again.
And according to ITIC's 2021 Hourly Cost of Downtime survey, one hour of a server being inoperable costs $300,000 or more for 91 percent percent of mid-sized and large enterprises.
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